​Best of the East Bay – 7/23/15Best DIY Science GroupCounter Culture Labs is a group of so-called “citizen scientists” — biotech professionals, hackers, and other experimenters — dedicated to science projects that aren’t restricted by the traditional structures of universities and research labs. For Counter Culture Labs, DIY science means demystifying and democratizing technology and giving curious amateurs tools to create and execute their own unique experiments.

Seth Bannon–Climb Higher – 7/6/15Biotech in the GarageResearch intensive companies used to have to either grow out of a university lab or spend quite a lot of capital on their own lab. Now, they can get off the ground in biohacking spaces like Counter Culture Labs or Biocurious

PLOS CitizenSci – 6/5/15Coop’s Scoop: Do-It-Yourself, TogetherTo the contrary, when it comes to biotech, Do-It-Yourself is actually a friendly invitation to Do-It-Together. Everybody has something to learn and something to teach. DITbio welcomes the public with access to the process of scientific discovery and innovation.

​Wired – 4/15/15​Cow Milk Without the Cow Is Coming to Change Food ForeverCounter Culture Labs takes its name pretty literally. It is a bio lab, for sure, complete with pipettes, carboys, microscopes, and flasks. But it is decidedly counter to the traditional culture of laboratory science. The DIY tinkerers who hang out here—in the back of a sprawling space that used to house a heavy metal club in Oakland, California—are working beyond conventional notions of inquiry and research. Their goal is nothing less than to hack nature.

MAKEzine – 11/2/13Makers: the New Explorers of the UniversePatrik D’haeseleer, bioinformatician and co-founder of Counter Culture Labs, gives a great overview and perspective on the Glowing Plant project in the latest issue of BioCoder.

Serious Wonder – 7/30/13DIY Biohacking Coming to a Lab Near YouEnter Counter Culture Labs (CCL); a non-profit, member funded community lab based out of Oakland, CA. Anyone with an interest in biohacking and science can join, regardless of their knowledge or experience. They can learn and take part in a myriad of volunteer activities from many fields of DIY science and biology, such as Bioart and environmental microbe projects.

Nature Biotechnology – 7/24/13​Biotechnology: Independent Streak​Bethencourt is helping to plan the Counter Culture Labs hacker space in Oakland, California, which will provide lab space to at least 50 paying members from this autumn onwards.

​Nature Methods – 8/28/15DIY Biolabs – and why they matterWhen proponents of Do-it-yourself Biology explain their motivation for getting involved in the movement they often resort to colorful imagery. Take for example Patrick D’haeseleer who helps organize the Counter Culture Labs in the San Francisco Bay Area. He asks, “When the first village tamed fire, the neighboring village was freaking out. Should only the village elders be allowed to make fire or should we teach everybody?” “Any new technology has risk, but it behooves us to have all citizens know how these technologies work and what the risks are. “ he continues, “ the technology needs to be democratized because it will dominate the 21th century.”

Science Friday – 10/3/14Community Labs Practice Do-It-Yourself BiologyAt community labs, members play around with PCR machines and bioprinters, extract their own DNA, and make bacteria glow in the dark. We’ll hear about some of their biology hacks and ask what’s safe in a DIY lab.​O’Reilly Radar – 10/21/13The Biocoding RevolutionBiohackers want to tinker; do fun science; and, in the process, accelerate the pace of biotech innovation. There are plenty of differences between writing computer code and writing code in the building blocks of life, but the important thing is that it can be done and is being done now by citizen scientists working both from shared biohacker labs (like Biocurious, Genspace, and Counter Culture Labs) and at home.

East Bay Express – 7/31/13​Bio HackersAre DIY bio labs platforms for education and creativity, or, as one recent Nature article put it, “hackubators” for entrepreneurial bubbling? A forthcoming DIY bio space in Oakland, Counter Culture Labs, hopes to be a site for all those things.

Want to be involved with Counter Culture but can't make it in person? Donate! We are a 501(c)3 registered nonprofit, so all donations are tax-deductible. Because all of our staff are volunteers, 100% of the funds raised go right back into the lab.